Tax Deduction At Source (TDS)

Nothing is as tangled and knotty as the TDS provisons. While some TDS rates are specified in the individual section which deal with the tax treatment of the particular stream of income, some rates are included as part of a separate schedule. To make matters worse, these rates get tampered and modified every year. This result in so much chaos and confusion, that sometimes those who have to apply TDS, do not have a clue about what rate to use. Imagine the plight of tax payer.

The genasis of the problem lies in the complicated nature of the tax laws. The authorities complain that less than 2% of our population actually pays taxes. However, simpliflying the provisions is not viewed as a possible solution. On the other hand, in an effort to bring more and more people into the tax net, the lawmakers simply endup complicating the law. And the rule is simple more the complexity more the room.

TDS is final tax payable- at the time of filling his returns, the assessee pays the balance if any or asks for refund, as the case maybe. Ergo, it behooves the Department to have a standard uniform rate -convenient both for itself as well as the taxpayers.

The most unfortunate part is that we could have easily done away with any TDS provided the deparrtment had good infrastructure to apprehend assessees avoiding tax only through TDS.